


Beyond Thunderdome

by airy_nothing



Category: Glee
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-26
Updated: 2012-11-26
Packaged: 2017-11-25 03:48:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/634795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/airy_nothing/pseuds/airy_nothing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This little ficlet captures Blaine’s thinking about the past (and Kurt) while he’s at Dalton in search of the Nationals trophy, just before that moment when he’s accosted by Sebastian in "Dynamic Duets" (4x07).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beyond Thunderdome

He finds himself, once again, descending the stairs. 

It’s a bright day, so the dome is dazzling. He’d been walking through the corridors of his old school for at least an hour, just so he could end up here, at the top of the spiral. Looking up at the iron-wrought ribs, he’s reminded of the Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. he visited once, palm leaves bigger than his entire body, stretching toward light filtered through glass walls. He’s reminded of bird cages, the Victorian-styled ones that look like estates but have no windows at all, just metal and air and pattern. He likes the delicacy of it all—the dome’s ornament masking the strength of an iron skeleton holding it all together.  

As he begins the descent he feels light and airy, but nervous. He’s surrounded by white walls and dark portraits in thick gilded frames. Does he remember these faces? The names of the founding fathers seem ready to spill from his lips, but he can’t form the words, and when he glances at the gold name plates nailed beneath, they remain unfamiliar. He keeps looking behind him, he can’t help it—he can’t shake the sense that he’s being watched. And that’s something new, here.

When he’d left McKinley that morning he’d felt driven. After hearing Finn’s ridiculous idea about singing Foreigner tunes in foreign languages in costumes from around the world  _(doesn’t anyone know how to work with a theme around here?_ he’d wondered), he’d felt a familiar pang, almost exactly a year old.  _I know what I’m doing,_ he’d said back then, just before Sectionals, but no one had been listening. Blaine knows better now. He knows that Finn doesn’t listen unless something blows up in front of him, like Blaine had last year, to Sam of all people. Or like Blaine’s accusation this morning about the missing Nationals trophy. An accusation, which, Blaine considers, felt so damn good to make, especially as Nightbird.  _Take a seat, Finn. Nightbird’s got this._

But of course the Nocturnal Avenger couldn’t just show up at Dalton, could he? So Blaine had changed into regular clothes before making the journey to Westerville, a journey filled with music in the car, and singing— _loud_  singing. And he’d pulled into the parking lot filled with focus and determination. 

And then he’d turned off the car and sat.

And he got hungry.

And so Blaine had wandered, like a ghost haunting all the places he’d existed before Kurt. The trouble had been, though, that he’d existed at Dalton  _with_ Kurt, too. Who was haunting whom?

And that’s how Blaine ends up here, at the top of the stairs. 

Something about being under the dome reminds him of auditioning in front of Artie earlier this year.  _I wasn’t looking for this, but now you’re in my way._ And he begins to brace himself because in a few minutes he’ll be seeing Sebastian again, he’s sure of it, and boy would he like to get  _him_  in the Thunderdome. Because flooding his mind are memories of being really kind of flattered if he’s being perfectly honest, but mostly uncomfortable around that boy. And memories of that stupid slushy, and Blaine’s stupid misstep about Michael ( _another betrayal_ , he decides), and he imagines that other dome and its crude metal cage and then suddenly he has a vision of Kurt as Aunty Entity and he’s humming  _out of the ruins, out from the wreckage, can’t make the same mistake this time …_

And he takes the spiraling stairs slowly.  _We don’t need another hero. We don’t need to know the way home. All we want is life beyond … Thunderdome._

As he looks up he notices Sebastian’s new hair.  _Not impressed._ And Sebastian’s smile.  _Not interested. Will our story shine like a light,_ he hums,  _or end in the dark? Give it all or nothing._ And for the moment at least, he feels like Nightbird, even without the cape. 

“Sebastian,” Blaine says raising his arms, “of course it was you.” He watches Sebastian as he talks, as he mouths words like  _bullying, blackmail_ and  _assault_. Blaine steps away from the dome and into the dark corridors lined with tapestries, filled with students toting lacrosse gear and backpacks, and it’s all so  _familiar_  and yet—he can’t help himself as he darts his eyes about, looking back, looking into the shadows, looking for all the things he failed to see before.


End file.
